The Felt Factory Blog

Felt Balls are great and with our felt balls in 93 colours you can make your own beautiful garland in colours to suit your space.

I have just added a cute wee Felt Ball Garland Kit to my store which includes a needle, white DMC Thread and an instruction sheet for how to make your own garland. Such a fun project for a new baby, kids room, or birthday party make along.

Garlands are a fun addition to kids rooms or to jazz up your craft space. Totally customisable, make any length, add shapes and glitter felt balls. Hang them over bed heads, shelves and curtain rails or pin them to the wall.

First things first, choose your colours. Check out my Felt Ball Colour Combinations to get some ideas, I have made up a few samples of colours to get you started. There are no rules about how many colours you need so just have fun.

Length will determine how many balls you need, as well as spacing between balls.

For example-
+ A 1.2m long garland with a 2-3 cm space between balls will require approximately 24 Felt Balls.
+ A 1.2m long garland with no space between balls will require approximately 50 Felt Balls.
              

Start by placing your Felt Balls in the order you would like to string them. Have a play around and see which combination you prefer.

Thread your needle, I use our gorgeous DMC stranded thread, available in hundreds of colours to match or contrast your garland. Make sure to sew right through the middle of the ball. There's no need to knot or tie between each one, the balls won't move unless you push them.

Once you've finished stringing your balls, you can decide how far apart to space them. Push them close together or space them about 2-3cm to see what you like the most.

To hang your garland, tie off a loop at each end and pin to your wall with drawing pins or use command hooks. You can also drape your garland across a picture frame, shelf or curtain rail.

Our Felt Balls come in four sizes so you can mix and match not only colours but sizes too.

Happy Making.
Rebecca. xx

Our Felt Ball Garland Kits are all ready for fun crafty projects over the rainy winter months.

We have 93 colours of our beautiful 100% NZ Wool Felt Balls which can be a bit overwhelming when choosing a colour palette for garlands and wreaths and other wonderful projects.

With this in mind I have put together a couple of my favourite combinations.

Monotone is super popular right now. Great for older kids rooms or a neutral space.
This combo is White, Dove Grey, Grey Marle, Slate and Black.

Add a bit of colour to the monotone. This one has White, Grey Marle, Slate, Mist and Denim.

Mix White, Grey Marle, Stone, Apricot and Melon for a dreamy combination.

Brighten up your space with a rainbow garland. This combo is White, Chartreuse, Orange, Red, Kelly, Peacock and Ultra Violet.

Or a more pastel rainbow in Ecru, Soft Pink, Arctic Green, Lavender, Apricot, Mist, Sea Spray and Baby Yellow.

Our Yellow is a lighter Mustard and looks amazing with Autumnal tones. This one is Ecru, Clay, Yellow, Mushroom and Plum.

Finally a beautiful modern combo with all the on trend shades of the moment in Sand, Persian, Sea Spray, Yellow and Melon.

I hope you find some inspiration here. If you have a particular colour set you would like, I'm always happy to help with colour matching. If you are making a few you can purchase one of our Felt Ball Colour Cards which has all 93 colours.

Happy Crafting.
Rebecca. xx

These are definitely my new favourite things. Super simple and really quick to make, these DIY Felt Ball earrings are so cute and with 93 colours of our delicious felt balls to choose from you can match any look. Seriously SO cute!

+ First things first, choose some of our gorgeous felt balls in your favourite colours. (I used 1cm and 2cm Felt Balls and loved them both.)

+ Grab your Earring parts from any Jewellery Supply Shop. I used Craft Runner, they have a wonderful selection including sterling silver for my sensitive ears. :)

+ For 1cm felt balls I recommend 8mm posts and 12mm for the 2cm felt balls. Don't forget the butterflies!

The super easy part, fire up your glue gun and pop a small drop on the post, attach your felt ball. Repeat as many times as necessary. ;)

With all the beautiful Autumn colours for this season I'm excited to make more of these.

Happy Making
Bex
xx

You know by now I have a real soft spot for felt flowers and I keep my eyes peeled on YouTube for gorgeous tutorials by some very clever makers.
There's nothing more satisfying than making one or many of these beautiful felt florals. And once you have a few of the basics down, it's a wonderful thing to mix and match techniques and styles to make your own versions.
I love using my Sizzix Big Shot to make mine, however there are some great tutorials and methods and patterns for hand cut flowers.

One of my favourite makers Deidre from Flohra Design, has the most beautiful tutorials, using a mixture of handcut and die cut flower pieces. She also supplies a wonderful list of supplies used for each project.
If you want a real challenge, she also has a few master classes which you can join.
​This flower was brilliant fun, using the Sizzix Die Flower Layers #15 and one of my 4cm felt balls.
I can see this as a Protea or Artichoke with a colour change.

Another of Flohra Designs gorgeous flowers, I was quite taken by the graduated colour of this lovely felt flower. Using only circles and a 3cm felt ball it's lovely in a solid colour as well.

Again I used my Sizzix cutter with the Circle Framelits die, I only used two sized circles but I'll definitely try it again with three sizes.

Fumika Saku has such a beautiful style of felt floral. With a mixture of hand cut and die cut, her flowers are all based on botanicals with a romantic and sometimes unusual type. I tried her Candytuft flower which has a couple of lovely techniques.

I tried this one with my Sizzix Flower Layers #15 die and added an extra flower onto the top layer. It's just so lovely, I can't wait to try more of her tutorials.

Have fun with these, I'd love to see what you're making. Drop me an email or #thefeltfactorynz onto your posts.

Happy making.
Rebecca xx

I think its fair to say Larissa Holland's Twelve Days of Christmas ornaments have completely taken the craft world by storm. You can't Google "Christmas" and "felt" without seeing at least one of her beautiful designs. Her patterns are AMAZING, wonderfully detailed with gorgeous photos and diagrams which take you through the patterns step by step. These are perfect for novice and experienced stitcher's alike.

These gorgeous projects have been popping up with crafters all over the country and I've had more and more clever people asking for colour advice for making.

So, with great joy and anticipation I bought the collection off her Etsy site to make my own set in The Felt Factory colours. I know, it's tough work but someone has to do it! ;)

The following blog, I hope, will be a great resource for making this set with our beautiful 100% Merino Wool Felt with suggestions for colours and quantities as well as thread suggestions and links to our fab products.

This beautiful set of patterns can be purchased from mmmcraft Etsy store. Available singularly or as a collection. Etsy is brilliant, if you don't already have an account with them, it's super easy to set up, think Trade Me, then purchase and download the pdf patten. NB/ most patterns available from Esty are pdf files, not hard copy patterns.

PS. This is the pattern which introduced me to Sticky Fabri-Solvi, THE best craft tool ever!!! Print your pattern straight out onto the sheet then stick it to the felt and stitch over the top. Once you've finished the stabiliser dissolves in water!!!! So handy. This is used throughout and is not mandatory but a fab tool. There are tips for using it and for using alternatives.

PPS. Choosing you own colourways are a fun alternative made easier with my colour matched DCM threads on each product page. Wihoo!

To complete the set you will need-
+ 10-14  colours of our 100% Merino Wool Felt Sheets
   + I used Yellow, Marigold, Gold, Watermelon, Red, Cardinal, Raspberry, Arctic Blue, Mist, Olive, Dove,              Slate and Black.
+ DMC Thread to match your felt sheets
    + I used, 726, 972, 832, 351, 321, 902, 600, 3811, 503, 471, 469, 02, 535 and 310
+ One packet of Sticky Solvy
+ Beads
+ Cotton Pipe Cleaners
+ Chenille Pipe Cleaners
+ Tacky Glue
+ A Fabric Pen

There are so many combinations you can use for these ornaments. I loved all of Larissa's colour ways, this one caught my eye to make for myself. How could you stop at one set though!

For the Partridge and Pear I used the following colours in my

100% Merino Wool Felt Sheets:

+ Yellow
+ Marigold
+ Mist Blue
+ Olive
+ Moss

DMC Embroidery Floss:

+ 726 - to match Yellow
+ 972 - to match Marigold
+ 503 - to match Mist Blue
+ 469 - to match Olive
+ 471 - to match Moss
+ 321 - to match Red
+ 310 - Black
+ E415 - for hanging

mmmcrafts Turtle Dove pattern is available by itself here or as part of the whole twelve days ornament set.

For my Turtle Dove I used:

100% Merino Wool Felt Sheets

+ Mist
+ Watermelon
+ Cardinal
+ Raspberry

DMC Embroidery Floss

+ 503 - to match Mist
+ 351 - to match Watermelon
+ 902 - to match Cardinal
+ 600 - to match Raspberry
+ 310 - Black
+ E415 - for hanging

mmmcrafts French Hen pattern, number three in the twelve days ornament series, is available by itself here or as part of the whole twelve days ornament set.

For my French Hen I used:

100% Merino Wool Felt Sheets

+ Mist
+ Dove Grey
+ Slate Grey
+ Red
+ Gold

DMC Embroidery Floss

+ 503 - to match Mist
+ 02 - to match Dove Grey
+ 535 - to match Slate Grey
+ 321 - to match Red
+ 832 - to match Gold
+ 310 - Black
+ E415 - for hanging

mmmcrafts Colly Bird pattern, number four in the twelve days ornament series, is available by itself here or as part of the whole twelve days ornament set.

For my Colly Bird I used:

100% Merino Wool Felt Sheets

+ Mist
+ Slate Grey
+ Olive
+ Watermelon
+ Black

DMC Embroidery Floss

+ 503 - to match Mist
+ 535 - to match Slate Grey
+ 469 - to match Olive
+ 351 - to match Watermelon
+ 310 - Black
+ E415 - for hanging

On the fifth day of Christmas my true love gave to me! Number five in mmmcrafts twelve days ornament series, is available by itself here or as part of the whole twelve days ornament set.

For my Gold Ring I used:

100% Merino Wool Felt Sheets

+ Yellow
+ Marigold
+ Gold
+ Mist
+ Arctic Blue

DMC Embroidery Floss

+ 726 - to match Yellow
+ 972 - to match Marigold
+ 832 - to match Gold
+ 503 - to match Mist
+ 3811 - to match Arctic Blue
+ E415 - for hanging

Six Geese a-Laying. Number six in mmmcrafts twelve days ornament series, is available by itself here or as part of the whole twelve days ornament set.

For my Goose and bonus Egg I used:

100% Merino Wool Felt Sheets

+ Cardinal
+ Watermelon
+ Raspberry
+ Mist
+ Arctic Blue

DMC Embroidery Floss

+ 902 - to match Cardinal
+ 351 - to match Watermelon
+ 600 - to match Raspberry
+ 503 - to match Mist
+ 3811 - to match Arctic Blue
+ E415 - for hanging

Seven Swans a-swimming. Number seven in mmmcrafts twelve days ornament series, is available by itself here or as part of the whole twelve days ornament set.

For my Swan I used:

100% Merino Wool Felt Sheets

+ Black
+ Watermelon
+ Red
+ Mist
+ Olive
+ Slate Grey

DMC Embroidery Floss

+ 310 - to match Black
+ 351 - to match Watermelon
+ 321 - to match Red
+ 503 - to match Mist
+ 469 - to match Olive
+ 535 - to match Slate Grey
+ E415 - for hanging

Eight Maids a-Milking. I had a lot of fun with this one, the first person in the series, she was a lovely fun make with a few extra skills using beads and pipe cleaners. Number eight in mmmcrafts twelve days ornament series, is available by itself here or as part of the whole twelve days ornament set.

For my Maid I used:

100% Merino Wool Felt Sheets

+ Black
+ Mist
+ Slate Grey
+ Gold
+ Dove Grey

DMC Embroidery Floss

+ 310 - to match Black
+ 503 - to match Mist
+ 535 - to match Slate Grey
+ 832 - to match Gold
+ 02 - t match Dove Grey
+ E415 - for hanging

Nine Drummers Drumming. Number nine in mmmcrafts twelve days ornament series, is available by itself here or as part of the whole twelve days ornament set.

For my Drummer I used:

100% Merino Wool Felt Sheets

+ Mist
+ Moss Green
+ Arctic Blue
+ Cardinal 
+ Raspberry

DMC Embroidery Floss

+ 503 - to match Mist
+ 471 - to match Moss
+ 3811- to match Arctic Blue
+ 902 - to match Cardinal
+ 600 - to match Raspberry
+ E415 - for hanging

Ten Pipers Piping. Number ten, and we're nearly there in mmmcrafts twelve days ornament series. This beautiful Piper is available by itself here or as part of the whole twelve days ornament set.

For my lovely Piper I used:

100% Merino Wool Felt Sheets

+ Mist
+ Slate Grey
+ Watermelon
+ Raspberry
​+ Marigold

DMC Embroidery Floss

+ 503 - to match Mist
+ 535 - to match Slate Grey
+ 351 - to match Watermelon
+ 600 - to match Raspberry
​+ 972 - to match Marigold
+ E415 - for hanging

Eleven Ladies Dancing. Number eleven in mmmcrafts twelve days ornament series. This lovely Dancing Lady is available by herself here or as part of the whole twelve days ornament set.

For my lovely Lady I used:

100% Merino Wool Felt Sheets

+ Mist
+ Raspberry
​+ Cardinal
+ Yellow
+ Arctic Blue

DMC Embroidery Floss

+ 503 - to match Mist
+ 600 - to match Raspberry
​+ 902 - to match Cardinal
+ 726 - to match Yellow
+ 3811 - to match Arctic Blue
+ E415 - for hanging

​Twelve Lords a-Leaping. The final number twelve in mmmcrafts twelve days ornament series. He has so much character, I just love him. His pattern is available by himself here or as part of the whole twelve days ornament set.

For my cheeky Lord I used:

100% Merino Wool Felt Sheets

+ Mist
+ Watermelon
+ Olive
+ Moss
+ Black 
+ Arctic Blue
​
DMC Embroidery Floss

+ 503 - to match Mist
+ 351 - to match Watermelon
+ 469 - to match Olive
+ 471 - to match Moss
+ 310 - to match Black
+ 3811 - to match Arctic Blue
+ E415 - for hanging

I hope you have enjoyed making these as much as I have. 
I'd love to see your completed ornaments, please use #twelvedaysornaments and #thefeltfactorynz to share with myself and Larissa on your social media.
​Rebecca. xx

You all know by now how much I love felt flowers. I've had this beautiful Sizzix Thinlits die for a while and have used a few bits of the nine dies included in the set, but not all of them together. Today was just the day to try them out.

These dies are super easy to use and will cut felt through most die cut machines using a thin die plate.

For this project I have used:
1x 100% Merino Wool Felt Sheet in Merlot
1x 100% Merino Wool Felt Sheet in Olive
1x 7" Embroidery Hoop
1x Sizzix Thinlit Dies by David Tutera

And of course my handy hot glue gun!

Cut out the felt as pictured above.
The die also comes with instructions on how many to cut and how to assemble.

Glue the bottom of the petals together and start assembling.
Start with the larger and work inwards in threes until finished.

Roll stamen up and glue into the centre.
Glue leaves to the back and then glue the whole lot onto the hoop.

A gorgeous flower for a fun wee project with lots of opportunity for variation.

Have fun.
Rebecca. xx

How cool are these! Such a wonderful, simple project to make for your home for Christmas.

We now sell two sizes of polystyrene wreaths especially for felt balls wreaths and with our great tips you can make your own.

So to start choose which size wreath you'll need, we have 24cm and 35cm.

Choose you felt balls, the very best part!! for the 23cm wreath you'll need 150 2cm balls and the 35cm wreath you'll need 250 2cm balls. I used 5 colours in my large wreath so I had 50 of each colour for my smaller wreath I chose 50 of each red and white and 25 of each stripe. Choose any colours you like to make this totally unique and wonderfully yours.
Mix in a few larger sized balls to give a difference again.

A glue gun is the very best way to stick your felt balls to your wreath. Make sure you have 8-10 sticks at the ready.

Starting at the top of your wreath, applying a dot of glue to each ball to secure. Continue around pushing the balls together to close gaps.

Have fun.

Rebecca
xx

We love a good excuse for a dress up and with Halloween right around the corner we thought a couple of cute felt masks were just the thing for a last minute make to scare the neighbours.

What you'll need:

Our Mask Template
1x sheet 30 x 20cm White Felt
1x sheet 30 x 20cm Black Felt
Small scraps of red and purple felt (about 7cm x 7cm)
Embroidery thread
28cm length elastic

+ Print out the pattern and cut out.
+ Cut one skull in black felt and another slightly smaller in white felt.
+ Cut embellishments out of chosen colours.
+ Trim elastic to size.
+ Pin together Black and white skulls with elastic in between, tie a knot in each end of the elastic to ensure it does not slip out.
+ Hand or machine stitch around the outside edge of the mask.
+ Pin and sew embellishments.
+ Stitch mouth using black thread and a backstitch and the nose with large lazy daisies.

Have fun with this pattern and Happy Halloween.

Rebecca. xx

I always like to know where things come from and how we came to use them on a regular basis. Of course, my felt is the same. Before I started The Felt Factory I did a ton of research about where my felt would come from and its origins. I was thrilled to find suppliers who are very well established manufacturers with businesses that have been kept in the family for years. They sure know their stuff and the quality of their product is a reflection of their longevity in the felt business.

Wool Felt making is an ancient tradition and is considered to be the oldest known textile in the world. In Turkey, the remains of felt have been found dating back at least to 6,500 B.C.E.

The origins of felt have become entwined with our myth and legend throughout our history.

The story of Saint Clement and Saint Christopher tells while fleeing from persecution, the men packed their sandals with wool to prevent blisters. At the end of their journey, the movement and sweat had turned the wool into felt socks.

In Noah’s Ark the sheep, goats, camels and other animals that herded together in the Ark shed their fleece and during the voyage trampled it underfoot. After the animals left the Ark, Noah was amazed to find the floor carpeted in felt.

Throughout history and still today, Nomadic tribes of Central Asia use felt as a covering for the main wood frame of their Yurts. As a readily available fibre, felt provides warmth and insulation for cold climates.

Our gorgeous Merino Wool Felt is made by wet felting. In the wet felting process, hot water is applied to layers of wool, while repeated agitation and compression causes the fibres to hook together or weave together into a single piece of fabric. The fabric is then dyed to the perfect colour and stretched into the correct width and length.

Our Wool Blend is made by needle punching. Plant based fibres, like our Rayon fibres, have a smooth structure, needing a different process than traditional felting methods required for pure wool. The wool and rayon fibres are layered into a loose matt, then entangled by needles punching through the matt. The needles are made with barbs that hook or latch onto the fibres interlocking them as the needles move continuously in an up and down.

Around the world our manufacturers are using new applications of these old technologies, producing beautiful felt in saturated colours of constantly high quality. We love everything felt and absolutely love bringing these beautiful fabrics to New Zealand.

xo, Rebecca.

 You all know by now, little projects are my absolute favourite. My favourite craft magazine at the moment is the UK based Mollie Makes, a fab source of small projects in all sorts of styles by small business makers and contributors from all over the world.

One in particular has been on my work bench since the issue came out. The Embroidered Terrarium pattern is by UK crafter Helen Wilde from Ovo Bloom. So cute, I love a good hoop art project.

I did want to change it up a bit, I wanted to incorporate a couple of felt succulents that I've been crushing on by Flohra Design, Deidre is a felt florist from the US, she is so clever and makes the most beautiful felt flowers, she also has great tutorials on making your own.

To use my larger felt flowers the hoop needed to be 25cm. I used three shades of brown DMC embroidery thread for the french knots, my 100% Merino Wool Felt Sheets in Fern, Spring and Moss and my brand new Sizzix Dies.

Follow the instructions to outline the terrarium and start on the french knots.

And the super fun part of making the felt flowers!

I used Deidre's gorgeous DIY Felt Succulent with Sizzix Die for the large Fern coloured flower, she has a few other succulent tutorials using dies and hand cut techniques. Check them out and see which ones suit you. She also has a list of the dies and other supplies required to make all her projects.

Place your flowers on the hoop, gluing to fix them. Tidy up the back of the hoop and voila! Done and dusted.

Have fun with this, I sure did.

Happy making,
Rebecca. XX